Tune of the week: 2011

This tune has massive personal significance to me. I listened to it when I was walking to an interview for my former job, which I was eventually offered. Four years later when I had completed the job, I listened to it again and was basically stabbed in the heart with a nostalgia blade. Listening to this song inspires confidence in me. I listened to it repeatedly because I was looking forward to the monstrous year of 2010 ending, and embarking on bigger and better things in 2011.

It is also one of the greatest songs I've ever heard, and listening to it loud on headphones is tremendous.

A mere 35 hours into my new year, I received totally heart breaking news, real show stopping stuff. All of the pre-new years eve excitement and promise that I'd built up was instantly destroyed. I turned back to this song which I'd used often in the past to listen to whilst wallowing in misery, and tried to re-appropriate it into a song that makes me hopeful instead. I think I succeeded. Given the fact that I have repeatedly listened to this song in times of abject misery, it is now pretty emotionally potent!

I think it has real profound content, and the drones just build and build to the extent that I wouldn't mind if this song never actually ended.

A man can't wallow in misery forever! This vintage blast from the past is the type of song that blows you through the back wall when it comes on at random, leaving a man-in-chair shaped hole opposite your PC. I can't believe it's over six years since they released this song. It reminded me of happier times!

There was a time in my life when I used to say "your favourite song on Americana is probably 'pay the man'" and intended it to be an insult. Now it's the only track I can even still listen to on that album. It's another massive blast of nostalgia, and one of the best songs The Offspring ever made. It's a shame about the massive lag at the end of the track, I had to find a dodgy youtube version to play on repeat!

I am way more likely to overdo the listens on a track if it's one I can listen to as I drift off to sleep. This one fits the bill perfectly, a vintage electronica track that builds up in layers and chills you out to the max. This is just one track of many greats from the album.

The live version of this track will have to do, it's impossible to find album quality Dylan on youtube. I have pretty much been listening to this song purely on the strength of the lyrics alone. It's not my favourite Bob Dylan song by any means, but the lyrics and the message! Written at a time when he thought it was a matter of days until he was obliterated by nuclear fire, it's kind of a good bye song to the world. Profound on every level.

I first heard this tune at work, it radiated from someone's iPod when set to random, and it immediately took me back to my university days. This is exactly the kind of songs one of my best mates lives for. Some funky upbeat bass line that he would no doubt have tried to replicate for hours at leisure on his guitar. It's also marked my attempt to listen to more uplifting, less misery-laden songs!

As a disclaimer, I guess I should mention that I have listened to this song almost every day before I've gone to bed for the last two years. It just doesn't get old for me. This week I've been kaning it more than usual though, it's the perfect track to calm you down before you drift off. I've listened to it so many times over the years, it feels like my own personal tune.

There is a discreet, often untapped corner of my brain that can only be stimulated by absolutely classic rock and roll songs. If a song is good enough, I'll hear it once and it will become an instant classic for me. Not many songs have ever had what it takes to appeal to this brain segment, but Gimme Shelter was probably the first to do so. I can listen to this song for days on end.

Four Tet is unquestionably one of my favourite musicians. His work is always such a safe bet and his sound instantly recognisable. Here he remixes an already quite beautiful song and makes it even more amazing. The perfect song to chill out with, and I'd forgotten all about it until random reminded me of its brilliance. I love music.

I found the blog of a guy I used to know and he'd waxed lyrical about this song all over it. As a gentleman who had given me so many incredible music tips in the past, I felt compelled to give the song a listen and it was instant enjoyment. I tracked down a couple of Bukem's albums and turned myself into a fan, despite the deep down knowledge that I know I used to hate his music. Oh well.

It's not often that last.fm's recommended radio service manages to pull something out of the bag, but I can't fault them for this banger. 'Fuck Buttons' is exactly the kind of band name I'd avoid out of sheer principle on an every day trip to the music shop, but this entire album is awesome. This song is the pick of the bunch, you can't beat ten-minute long epics which remind you of being born in the heart of a dying sun.

I know I'm haemorrhaging superlatives all over this list, but oh my goodness, what a tune. I was close to losing all faith in PJ Harvey after her last album, but this one blows most of her previous work out of the water. I love this song the most, a jaunty ballad about the utter waste of life that was the Gallipoli landings during World War I. Knowing it's all about war gives the simple lyrics a profound edge.

Oracular Spectacular has three sure-fire hit songs that pretty much guaranteed this band a career, no matter how dire the follow up album. Yet after a few years, none of those three songs really do it for me anymore and it's this song that I love the most by these guys. It's just impossible for me to get bored of it.

If you'd have told me I'd have Plan B anywhere near this list at the start of the year, I'd have laughed heartily in your face. However, this tune is an undeniable classic, I've been levelling up to it all week. The greatest part about the whole thing is that Plan B dies in the video, and it reminds me of Michael Caine - one of the greatest men who ever walked the Earth. And just envisage blood drying in your veins?

This song brings back a tremendous memory and a sense of enormous well being whenever I listen to it. On the last day of my University degree, I pulled an all-nighter while I packed up all of my equipment and waited for my Dad to come and take me home for the last time. As the sun came up in the morning, I remember the sky being a perfect purple colour, it was beautiful, and being a sucker for symbolism I took it to represent the beginning of my new life. I didn't really know what I was going to do, where I was going to do it and whether I'd ever see so many people ever again, but I felt good about it all the same. I wished when I was listening to this song that I could go back to that day.

Caught me off guard on my MP3 player during a long walk home recently. Spammed it on repeat a couple of times, The Go! Team are like your very own personal cheerleaders in your corner, always driving you forward!

Caribou has always been a touch-and-go artist for me, ever since I watched him live and he sucked harder than any live act I've witnessed previously. However, his latest album put him back firmly on the map. It has to be some of the most intriguing electronica out there, intertwined with some outrageously depressing lyrics. This song is no exception, probably my favourite on the album.

This is hands down my favourite song I've listened to this year. Quick look at the audioscrobbler suggests I've listened to it 160 times already, and that's not including how many times I've ripped it on my MP3 player when I'm out and about. Superlative!

I'm not sure what came over me, I used to believe that this song was utterly average, despite its commercial success and it was a guaranteed skip whenever I listened to Smash back in the day. I caught myself singing it (in my head!) at work over and over during a particularly laborious task and revelled in the self-deprecating brilliance of the lyrics and the utter lack of enthusiasm in the voice. The complete unwillingness to stick up for one's self and repeated self-deceptions also resonated.

I wish there were a more romantic story to how I discovered this song. The truth is, I was watching a compilation video on youtube of an English footballer (who I very much despised) who had just retired, and this was the accompanying music. The song was so enjoyable, it actually shifted my decade-long opinion of this particular player from one of petty hate into one of genuine respect. The power of music!

This band was recommended by a friend and I chalked them up as an instant hit. Nothing reaches my largely abandoned and remotest pleasure centres quite like booming electronica music. I love this song as parts of it sound like a bunch of error messages that might appear on ED-209's HUD as he tries to walk down stairs or something. Anything that reminds me of robots is like a drug.

Not really a huge hip-hop fan, but this tune had me hooked. The background sample Nas uses is mysterious, melancholic and haunting. I'm not going to pretend I can empathise with the hard life he's rapping about, but you still hear the emotion coming through in his words.

My media player always seems to throw up something that drags my mood into crushing misery when I least expect it. That's what happened here, the lyrics instantly resonated and I spent the rest of the day listening to it on repeat. Such a jaunty tune, but it's not a happy song.

Whenever one of my favourite bands releases a new album I usually give it a wide berth for as long as possible in case it sucks. That's what happened with The King of Limbs, all I had to go on was the horrific video for Lotus Flower, which made me want to kill Thom Yorke outright with a blunt instrument. Eventually I took the plunge and as always, my fears were unfounded and it didn't disappoint. Codex was my absolute favourite song on the album. So simple and sad.

I was struck by 'New Album Syndrome' with this one too, I didn't want to risk falling out of love with one of my favourite bands so I left it for months. Gloss Drop was a bit touch and go overall, but this song is just classic Battles. When Stanier's drums kick in on this track, you just know everything's going to be ok.

It's always a hair-raising experience when your favourite artist releases a new album, but after putting it off for so long I decided to listen to it. It's not 24-carat gold, but this song is wonderful. Poor Zach sounds so depressed.

For NO REASON at all, this song got stuck in my head at work and I spent a solid six odd hours humming and singing along to it. I hadn't actually heard it played in about 10 years, and suddenly my subconscious released it and allowed it to bubble up to the surface. This is literally the only Dead Kennedy's song I know.

I bought a radio to wake me up in the mornings, and the first song I woke up to was this. I was never a fan of the Sex Pistols, but this song is so brilliant. Rotten can't even sing, and they're all so young, but they absolutely destroy the UK in this song. It's pretty clichéd to say so, but the track is still relevant. The establishment still needs a massive slap around the face.

Wow! Not ashamed to admit that I heard this song on the Assassin's Creed: Revelations trailer, but what a song it it - and better yet, what a video it is too! Both the trailer and this video get the adrenaline flowing. You just can't beat big drums.

I thought that Track 8 that I included in this list was an original work, but then I discovered this track which it is based upon. What a wonderful song, it helped that I was already in love with it but stripping it back and leaving the violin to do all the work makes it even more of a relaxing tune.

Most of the time when I spam a song, I feel like posting it on my facebook profile or something, but I always know full well that nobody in my inner circle will give a damn about such trivial things. The chances are, the same thing will happen here, but what the hell.

I'll try and keep a tune of the week going for the entire year. Fifty-two enjoyable songs, with reasons why I'm listening to them. Can't be that difficult.